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WITandWISDOM(tm) - April 18, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can. - John Wesley Source: Illustrations, http://www.cybersaltlists.org ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A Story From The Civil War: A poor boy lay ill in a southern hospital. Over him was a quilt made of bits of calico and white squares, on which were written texts of Scripture. It was the gift of a northern woman whose son was in the army. The boy was seen to kiss over and over a bit of the calico, a crimson leaf with a dark background. They thought his mind wandered. After a little he asked: “Where did the quilt come from?” “It was sent by a good woman with a note pinned to it.” At his request, they brought the note. His hand trembled and his cheek grew white as he saw the writing, “Read it slowly, please,” he said, “it is from my mother; that bit of calico was part of her dress.” When they finished he pointed to the text: “I have sinned, and am no more worthy.” They read the parable of the prodigal son to him. A few days afterward, he said: “I was a great way off, but God met me, had compassion on me, and His love fills me with peace.” - New York Observer Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) October 22, 1896, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Dieter Brauer, 33, from Vreden in Germany was hiding from the cops after fleeing when pulled over for speeding. When officers arrived at his house to arrest him after noting down his number plate his wife, Nina, said her husband was not home. But three-year-old Hannah interrupted to tell the uniformed men "daddy is here" and led them to the cellar where he was hiding. Brauer, who is now facing charges for speeding and driving with an expired license, said: "I can't be angry with her, she was just doing what we've always told her and that's not to tell lies." Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: When I got off the bus late one night at Camp Beauregard, La., and was hurrying to my quarters, I was confronted by a guard. "Halt! Who goes there?" he called out. I gave my name, rank, serial number and Army unit, and waited patiently for the command to advance and be recognized. Finally I broke the silence with, "Aren't you supposed to say something else?" "Yes," the guard replied, "and don't you dare move until I think of it." -- Contributed to Reader's Digest "Humor In Uniform" by 1st Lt. Clarence E. Bird (Ret.) Source: Monday Fodder mailto:daveaufrance@gmail.com?Subject=Subscribe_Monday_Fodder http://www.fishermansnet.com/monday-fodder/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Is there a "most rare" stamp? If so, how much is it worth? The United States 1c Z grill is the rarest of all US stamps, with only two known to exist. On October 8, 1998, the stamp set a world record for a single U.S. stamp, realizing $935,000. During the 1860s, the postal authorities became concerned about postage stamp reuse. Although there is little evidence that this actually occurred much, many post offices had never received any cancelling devices, and improvised by scribbling on the stamp with an ink pen ("pen cancellation"), or whittling designs in pieces of cork, sometimes very creatively ("fancy cancels"), and poor-quality ink could be washed from the stamp. A number of inventors patented various ideas to solve the imagined problem. The Post Office eventually adopted the grill, a device consisting of a pattern of tiny pyramidal bumps that would emboss the stamp, breaking up the fibers so that the ink would soak in more deeply, and thus be harder to clean off. While the patent survives (No. 70,147), much of the actual process of grilling was not well-documented, and there has been considerable research trying to recreate what happened and when. Study of the stamps shows that there were ten types in use, distinguished by size and shape (philatelists have labeled them with letters A-I and Z), and that the practice started some time in 1867 and was abandoned around 1871. A number of grilled stamps are among the great rarities of US philately; the United States 1c Z grill is the rarest of all US stamps, with only two known to exist. Source: Top Greetings